


Braintrust

by bexacaust



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Acting, Insight, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 20:24:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13372413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bexacaust/pseuds/bexacaust
Summary: “You put on a really good act, Scream.”, he said with a smile that was half napalm, half liquid nitrogen, “I should know- I’ve been putting on an act since I was recruited.”“I was acting long before you were forged.”, was the reply.“Not well.”





	Braintrust

Starscream’s optics darted to glare at the gaudily-decorated Prime seated haphazardly on the edge of a wide berth. Rodimus grinned back, the smile not reaching the rest of his faceplates and instead shadowed by something secret-

Something Starscream didn’t know, and already feared.

“What would you know of acting, young as you are?”

“I pretended to care all this time, didn’t I?”

Starscream felt his spark drop, but schooled his face into a stoic mask.

Rodimus laughed, more a bark of sound to fill the silence than an expression of mirth, “Not about you, don’t worry. I’m loyal to a stupid fault.”

“Then about what?”

“The war. The factions. The scrapheap of words tumbling out of the mouths of leaders who pretended to be in power.”

Starscream turned, visibly aware of the scuffs of orange and gold on his plating and trying to ignore the way it still warmed him to the struts. Rodimus continued to speak, optics shuttered as Starscream swayed towards him.

“I wasn’t really recruited either. Optimus just kind of… y’know.”

“Decided for you.”, said Starscream quietly, standing in front of Rodimus with a hip cocked.

“Yeah.”, was all Rodimus said, “So drop the act with me, wouldja?”

“What do you mean, drop the act.”

Rodimus’s hands were warm as they snaked over Starscream’s hips, scuffed thumbs rasping against wax plating and making the Seeker’s wings quiver from the sensation.

“Just… be Starscream. Around me.”

“Then be Rodimus around me. Quid pro quo.”

Rodimus laughed again, a sound that was young yet aged, both smooth and rough like tideline sand on shifting shores. He pulled gently, coaxing Starscream closer and pressed  a kiss to abdominal plating.

“Deal.”

Starscream’s servos drifted down, reaching out to stroke the edge of a golden spoiler. There was something wild about the younger Prime, something still untamed and waiting. Perhaps it was exposure to the Matrix, perhaps it was just who he was; Starscream didn’t know, and couldn’t bring himself to care.

Rodimus’s bright servos dipped into narrow seams, stroking and plucking at the cables and Starscream gasped sharply.

Rodimus was a star, a sun, and was drawing the drifting comet off it’s lonely path into a warmer orbit. Pulling in the cold Something Starscream had become in his long travels through time and space and war and peace.

In the presence of such things, it was easy to forget that Icarus was once a flier too.

Starscream didn’t think he’d mind, burning up in Rodimus’s flames-

Not if it meant he got to carry some of that warmth even after saying goodbye in the late morning.


End file.
